At last, justice for Andy Hall
By Joanna Ewart-James, Freedom United
| Thank you for making a difference. |
Dear ieyenews readers Justice has been delivered! At last, after a seven-year, arduous legal battle, Thailand’s Supreme Court has acquitted migrant workers’ rights activist Andy Hall of criminal defamation and offenses under the Computer Crimes Act. Together with the nearly 137,500 of you who signed our petition in support of Andy Hall, we were able to bring international attention to his case, advocate for all charges against him to be dropped, and help out with his legal defense fees. Thank you for stepping up to defend anti-slavery activists like Andy. Read the field report The battle began in 2013 when Andy Hall contributed to a report titled “Cheap has a High Price”[1] with research documenting forced labor and other labor rights violations at a pineapple factory in Thailand belonging to Natural Fruit Companythat supplies to supermarkets globally. The report exposed abuses indicative of forced labor and other labor rights violations, including confiscating workers’ passports and identity papers, paying below the legal minimum wage, requiring employees to work excessive hours without adequate pay, and physical abuse from superiors. The report, published by NGO Finnwatch, set off a backlash as Natural Fruit quickly retaliated, filing four lawsuits in total against Andy. Their claims, alleging civil and criminal defamation, as well as violations of the Computer Crimes Act, widely decried as ‘Cyber Martial Law’[2] giving overly broad powers to restrict free speech, and used to retaliate against activists.[3] As Andy explained to Freedom United, this case has always been about intimidation and silencing activists who expose modern slavery: “This is about persecution. It’s a political case to try and silence me… I’m someone that’s revealing things that the government and the industry don’t want me to reveal.”[4] Read about the many ways in which the Freedom United community’s voice helped power calls for the charges to be dropped. Over the last several years, Andy and Natural Fruit have been embattled in litigation and a series of appeals. In 2016, the Bangkok South Criminal Court initially found him guilty, sentencing him to four years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Thai baht (USD 5,700). His sentence was subsequently reduced to a three-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 150,000 Thai baht. Natural Fruit appealed, but in May 2018, the Appeals Court overturned the verdict by the court of first instance. They ruled that he had not acted unlawfully and that it was possible that labor rights violations had occurred at Natural Fruit’s factory, adding that his research was done in the public interest. Natural Fruit appealed the Appeals Court ruling, sending the case to the Supreme Court. Finally, on June 30, 2020, the Supreme Court acquitted Andy of all criminal defamation and computer crimes filed against him, upholding the 2018 Appeals Court verdict. In response to the acquittal, Andy said:“I welcome today’s final ruling in this case. But after years of ongoing judicial harassment that has taken a heavy toll on me, my family and my colleagues, the verdict does not feel like a victory. My activism for over a decade in Thailand was intended only to promote and uphold the fundamental rights of millions of migrant workers in the country. These workers continue to find themselves without a voice in high risk situations of forced labor and subject to systemic human and labor rights violations in global supply chains. I remain open to reconciliation to put an end once and for all to this continued irrational cycle of litigation against me and my colleagues that remain in Thailand.” Despite the acquittal, Andy is not out of the woods just yet. According to a statement from Finnwatch, on July 14, 2020 the Supreme Court is due to issue a final verdict on a separate lawsuit against him over civil defamation filed by Natural Fruit related to an interview Andy gave to Al-Jazeera back in 2013.[5] We will keep you updated when the verdict is announced. In solidarity, Joanna, Miriam, Herrana and the whole team at Freedom United |
1] https://finnwatch.org/images/cheap%20has%20a%20high%20price_exec%20summary_final.pdf
[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-cyber/thailand-passes-internet-security-law-decried-as-cyber-martial-law-idUSKCN1QH1OB
[3] https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/21/thailand-cyber-crime-act-tightens-internet-control
[4] https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/drop-the-charges-against-andy-hall-now/
[5] https://finnwatch.org/en/news/743-thailand
